Advice for a laid back Italian Visit

Portofino has no train station, but there is ferry and bus access. It gets a fair amount of day trippers and it is extremely expensive. I'd consider one of the neighboring towns. Lucky you!

If your trip could overlap with the first weekend in May, you might enjoying staying in Assisi for several nights during their Calendimaggio festival. It's their medieval/Renaissance/spring festival and the whole town gets decked out in costume for events that span several days, including competing pageants/plays/choirs/athletic events. It's a photographer's dream as well, if you're into that.

And Assisi is drop dead gorgeous.

Instead of Portofino, I would choose Camogli. Charming, less expensive, and on the train line. You can easily day trip to Portofino and even the Cinque Terre. Weather should be fine. The “summer” season technically begins about Easter.

Lake Como for a week will be very laid back. Varenna gives you good access to the lake and it’s charms as well as a rail line for other day trips. You might look at Stresa on Lago Maggiore as an option, though. From there you can even day trip into Switzerland.

Very helpful info. Thank you! I am a photographer, so the festival in Assisi is tempting.

We spent a week in Lake Como in May and we were in Bellagio. I'm very happy with our choice. We did several walks to the little villages close by, and the ferry stops by often so it's easy to get across to the villas on the west side, or to Varenna. We had a VRBO that was a good price. We were right across from the church in the centre of town with a little balcony to get the morning sun or afternoon shade, and our front had a French balcony overlooking rooftops and the lake. It was very comfortable, and we were in the centre of things and all on our own at the same time. Bellagio has lots of places to eat, wine bars, and nice small shops (silk scarves are a specialty in the Como area and they're easy to bring home). It gets quiet by late afternoon when the day trippers leave.

I had looked at Varenna but realized there really wasn't enough there for us for a whole week (mostly around getting food--restaurants and grocery shopping). The west side towns are busier, as there is a road that goes up that side of the lake.

We rented bikes up the hill from Bellagio. They had e-assist bikes for me, and they sent us on an epic ride-- ferry across the lake and then up and over a mountain and down to the eastern reach of Lake Lugano, and an valley trail back. It was easy with the e-bike.

As for flying out of Florence, make sure you give yourself lots of time. It's a small airport, but poorly organized, and it has a short runway with weird wind patterns. We recently flew Florence to Munich, which is a flight under an hour. We had an almost 2 hour layover in Munich, but alas due to the chaos at Florence airport and the unpredictable winds (once we finally got on the plane, it was further delayed 45 minutes waiting for the wind to change), we missed our connecting flight to North America. We vowed never to fly out of a small Italian airport again if we need to make a connecting flight (my husband had problems flying out of Pisa in 2017 too). So long connections, if you're making them. Or fly out of Milan maybe (I've never flown out of Milan so can't comment on it either way).

Nickelini,

Do you have the contact for the VRBO where you stayed? That sounds ideal!

I spent two weeks in Florence this past April and it was very crowded.
Italian schools take a long Easter break. April 25 and May 1 are national holidays, lots of time off.
There were many Italian families traveling in all the places I visited during the month.
Added to this were U.S. students on spring break, and families visiting U.S. students studying in Florence.
Easter is April 12 in 2020. I would definitely not go during that week. If you can push the trip to late April you would lose some of the crowds.

We were in Bellagio, Piedmont, Santa Margherita Liguria and Milan this past April. It was the last week of April and first week of May. We had great weather and we’re glad we chose this time. I would recommend SML instead of Portofino. SML is also right on the train line and easy to access. As others have said, Portofino is small and extremely touristy. There is much more to do in SML. Camogli was a great day trip while we were there, but to me it would not have offered enough for an entire week.

I also recommend Bellagio for your time on Lake Como. Easily accessed by public transport.

Florence will also be easily accessed by train. We like to stay in the area adjacent to the train station at Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Several nice hotel choices and you can walk from the train station.

Have a great trip!